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    Copyright (C) 2016  Leah Rowe <info@minifree.org>

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	<title>Why your project should never join GNU</title>
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        <h1>Why your project should never join GNU</h1>
            <p>
                If you don't know what GNU is, consult <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Project">Wikipedia</a>.
            </p>
            <p>
                Libreboot <a href="../gnu/">quit the GNU project</a> on 15 September 2016,
                in protest of discrimination against a transgender person at the
                Free Software Foundation. The purpose of this article, however, is
                to explain why libreboot should have never joined the GNU project
                in the first place, even if such an injustice never occurred.
			</p>
            <p>
                While the FSF and GNU project pioneered the free software movement,
                there are serious issues with both organisations which make joining
                them unappealing. That being said, the libreboot project strongly
                believes in Free Software, as per the Free Software Definition
                published by the FSF. This article is mainly about organisational issues
                as opposed to philosophical differences.
            </p>
            <p>
                Leah Rowe, libreboot's founder and maintainer, had long had doubts
                about the GNU project, even while libreboot was a member, but had
                made the effort to put libreboot in GNU because at the time,
                it was believed to be good for the long-term success of the project.
            </p>
            <p>
                We call libreboot's departure from GNU <em>librexit</em>. The main thing to 
                remember, is that it is quite possible to be strongly in favour
                of Free Software as a movement, and in favour of free software
                becoming widely used everywhere, while opposing the Free Software <em>Foundation</em>
                and GNU project. This is the current position of the Libreboot project, and here's why:
            </p>
            <h2>
               #0: The GNU project is funded by the Free Software Foundation
            </h2>
                <p>
                    <a href="../gnu/">This page</a> explains why that is a bad thing.
                </p>
            <h2>
                #1: You lose control over your project
            </h2>
                <p>
                    Libreboot <a href="../gnu-insult/">witnessed this</a> when
                    it left GNU. The GNU project resisted it. Had libreboot stayed
                    and integrated with GNU even more, then it would have been
                    very difficult to leave. Thankfully, the GNU project did not
                    yet have much influence over libreboot, and most of the
                    infrastructure for it was still on libreboot.org, outside of the
                    control of the GNU project. The only GNU infrastructure used
                    were mailing lists, which are easy to replace.
                </p>
                <p>
                    GNU can appoint new maintainers for any program that is part of it,
                    even against your will. If you disagree with GNU practises
                    and want to do things different, there's the possibility that
                    you can simply be removed and replaced as maintainer of your
                    project, even if you are the founder and main developer.
                </p>
                <p>
                    RMS will take credit for your work, on behalf of the GNU project,
                    and will try to assert authority by asking for features which
                    you may not want to implement. RMS will further attempt to
                    dictate how and when releases should occur.
                </p>
                <p>
                    If the GNU project or FSF does something which you disagree
                    with, and you want to withdraw your project, they will try
                    to claim that the project is theirs, and that you are now
                    forking your own project. <strong>There are no formal procedures
                    for a project to leave GNU, if a project chooses this path. By
                    joining GNU, you are relinquishing *all* control over your project.</strong>
                </p>
                <p>
                    The GNU project is extremely undemocratic. Individual projects have
                    very little say over it, and the FSF is very much the same.
                    All you are doing by putting your program in GNU, is to help
                    the organisation grow. They do not care about you personally
                    and only care about your project.
                </p>

            <h2>#2: GNU Non-free Documentation License</h2>
                <p>
                    The GNU Free Documentation License is the main license recommended
                    for documentation by the GNU project. This license is non-free,
                    because it allows for so-called <em>invariant</em> sections to be
                    added to your documentation which cannot be modified or deleted
                    without express permission from the copyright holder of that
                    invariant section.
                </p>
                <p>
                    The GNU project mandates that all projects joining it must
                    use this license. <em>The Libreboot project recommends
                    avoiding this license at all costs, and has since switched
                    back to Creative Commons for all documentation.</em>
                </p>
                <p>
                    The libreboot project was always opposed to the GFDL, but
                    compromised since this was one of the conditions for joining
                    GNU. At the time, this was wrongly identified as an acceptable
                    compromise.
                </p>
            <h2>#3: TexInfo</h2>
                <p>
                    TexInfo is a dead markup language used by most GNU programs,
                    for documentation. Most modern projects do not use it, preferring
                    languages like markdown instead. The GNU project still insists
                    on using this bizarre, esoteric language.
                </p>
                <p>
                    This was one of the areas where libreboot also compromised
                    when joining GNU, but has since switched to alternative formats.
                </p>
            <h2>#4: The FSF and GNU project is a cult</h2>
                <p>
                    There is a huge cult of personality around Richard Stallman,
                    which you may or may not want your project to be associated with.
                </p>
                <p>
                    Many - a lot of - FSF followers are fanatical, to the point of extremism.
                    Your project will become associated with all of this, even if you
                    personally dislike Richard Stallman.
                </p>
                <p>
                    Leah witnessed this with libreboot, despite having met Richard
                    several times and finding him contemptible as a human being, for various reasons, even
                    if the free software philosophy is morally correct.
                </p>
                <p>
                    Here is an example:
                    <a href="https://stallman.org/archives/2016-sep-dec.html#31_October_2016_%28Down%27s_syndrome%29">https://stallman.org/archives/2016-sep-dec.html#31_October_2016_%28Down%27s_syndrome%29</a>
                    <br/>
                    In this blog post on his website, he refers to kids with down syndrome as &quot;pets&quot;.
                    <em>This is unacceptable, for a person who is in such a position
                    of influence, as he is.</em>
                    <br/>Archive (in case he takes it down):<br/>
                    <a href="http://archive.is/0NaYJ#selection-4477.7-4477.15">http://archive.is/0NaYJ#selection-4477.7-4477.15</a>
                </p>
                <p>
                    He has said similarly nasty things about children and childbirth in the past,
                    and has made sexist jokes. For instance, he once described
                    women who have never used GNU Emacs as <a href="http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/EMACS_virgins_joke">EMACS virgins</a>.
                    Leah is an emacs virgin.
                </p>
                <p>
                    Leah Rowe is a woman, and she recommends Vim. Her .vimrc is
                    on <a href="https://vimuser.org/">vimuser.org</a>.
                </p>
                <p>
                    Personal statement from Leah: RMS's comments about <em>emacs virgins</em>
                    is especially offensive to me. Not only is it sexist in general
                    (and directed at me, because I don't use emacs), but also offensive towards
                    my sexuality. His statement implies that men are supposed to have
                    sex with virgin women, and that women only lose their virginity to men.
                    <em>
                        To this day, I've only ever been in lesbian relationships,
                        although I am bi. I lost my virginity to a woman. I find it extremely insulting when
                        someone assumes that I only like men, or that I'm generally
                        interested in men.
                    </em>
                    The woman that I lost my virginity to also happens to be a Vim user,
                    and she is indeed an emacs virgin, like me.
                </p>
            <p>
                <a href="../">Back to home page</a>
            </p>
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